BBQ and Blues Festival Relocates to Downtown

Shaw Park will host the two-day finger lickin’ food and music event August 16-17. Until now, the festival has been held at Red River Exhibition Park just west of the Perimeter Highway on the city’s outskirts.

The main stage concert lineup over the weekend will feature Juno and Grammy award winning blues artists including headliners Colin James and the Robert Cray Band. Other artists appearing include Romi Mayes, Eddie Shaw, The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer, Watermelon Slim, Driving Wheel R&B, The Perpetrators, Manitoba Blues Society, and Winnipeg BBQ & Blues ambassador Big Dave McLean.

On the grill, $10,000 will be up for grabs in the pit masters championship. The two-day event is a Kansas City Barbecue Society sanctioned barbeque competition that is open to amateurs and professionals who will be competing for points and cash prizes. In addition, teams will also compete for a shot at an invitation to the Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational Barbecue Competition in Lynchburg, Tennessee and an invite to the World Food Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada.